Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Arkth vs Druken a fatigue based combat

The rouge Arkth meets the city watch Druken in a tavern's back alley. A struggle between the wanted criminal and the guard ensures. Druken is better armed, but Arkth has skill and speed to wear him out.

The following is a demo for the first proposal of a fatigue system to track actions per round. The combat round is not fixed at any length. Characters pay for actions using their fatigue points. If the level goes to high they feel fatigued and eventually exhausted. Every 15 seconds they regain a certain amount of fatigue points according to their recovery rate. Arkth can reach 80 fatigue before becoming exhausted. Druken on the other hand is a better conditioned fighter and has 100 fatigue to spend.

The character stats are as follows:

Arkth

Studded Leather (2d4 AR 2) + sword (2d8)

weapon

armor

shield

total

attack fatigue

7

2

0

9

parry fatigue

5

0

0

5

dodge fatigue

5

4

0

9

Arkth is equiped with the much lighter leather armor which on the other hand provides less protection than Druken's banded mail. Arkth's sword delivers 2d8 damage while his armor soaks 2d4 damage.

Druken

Banded armor (2d6 AR 3) + sword (2d10) + shield (heater)

weapon

armor

shield

total

attack fatigue

7

4

5

16

parry fatigue

5

0

5

10

dodge fatigue

7

8

7

22

Druken is equipped with sword and shield which grants him an extra +2 to parry, but makes him heavier when dodging. His dodge fatigue is way higher than Arkth's.

An attack is resolved by both parties rolling 2d10. The attacker must better the defenders roll to secure a hit. If a hit is achieved the attacker's weapon rolls damage against the defenders armor. Each die is matched in descending order against the opponent. For example an attack roll of 6, 4 would be matched against a soak roll of 4, 4. The 6 beats the first 4 and the 4 matches the second 4. Only the 6 points of damage to through to the character.

Damage is indicated in the damage column. There are values in brackets "[]" and values in parenthesis "()". Left values indicate low damage rolls and right values average rolls. In the first attack Arkth hits Druken. His sword manages 5 points of damage in a bad roll and 13 in an ok roll. The efective damage done to Druken is 0 for the bad roll and 6 for the ok roll. That means that a poor damage roll on Arkth's part causes no real hit point damage to Druken. It is entirely soaked by Druken's armor and stamina. On the other hand Arkth is considerably more exposed. Even a bad roll on Druken's part will cause a wound to Arkth as seen the first time Druken hits Arkth at the 45 second marker. The low amount of damage represented by 8 points is enough to cause a 2 hit point wound to Arkth.

Please take note that the following combat is heavily favored towards Arkth to extend the combat and show more options. There are three endings. One in which Druken dies, on in which he is exhausted and must yield and one in which Arkth is killed by a quick counter strike by Druken.

Combat begins (00:00+) with a surge of attacks from both sides. Both looking for a quick kill. Druken tires faster (about 50% quicker) than Arkth, but has a better physical condition. A series of rounds occur in the first 15 seconds. Arkth starts off and attacks. Druken parries with his shield and returns an attack which Arkth is forced to dodge as he has already attacked. Druken the counterstrikes and Arkth dodges to preserve his right to attack and does so immediately after. Druken parries with shield and swings his blade. The GM dictates that 15 seconds have gone by and allows characters to replenish fatigue.

The next 15 seconds (00:15+) go slower. Arkth measures his opponent and attacks twice. Druken falls back to parry to recover fatigue. (Designer note: It seems parry fatigue is not well set or Druken should have a better recovery rate fitting his physical condition. Unless overwhelmed by attacks he should get some benefit from this which he doesn't get in this example). The GM dictates the 15 seconds are over and grants fatigue recovery.

The next 15 seconds (00:30+) are spent taunting each other. Each one is conserving their strength for a longer fight than expected. They GM calls the end of the 15 seconds and grants fatigue recovery.

The next 15 seconds (00:45+) see a new surge in aggression. Druken strikes first and rolls over a 12 maintaining his initiative. Arkth takes a wound given his lesser armor and now faces a still ongoing Druken. He manages to dodge Druken's ill placed blow and luckily escapes injury. He counter attacks and rolls a 14 no maintaing initiative. Druken is once again hit, but hardly bad enough to kill him. On a good roll on Arkth's part he would have life threatening 18 points of damage (supposing all prior wounds were as bad). Otherwise he would be hardly injured as seen in the 0 points of damage to the left. Druken parries the last attack of that 15 second period and counter strikes missing Arkth. The GM determines the 15 seconds are over and allows for fatigue recovery.

The next 15 seconds (01:00+) are spent resting by both parties. Arkth is almost as good as new with only 4 fatigue while Druken is halfway through to being exhausted. (Note: Once again take note of the observation about better recovery).

The final 15 seconds (01:15+) see three endings:

Option 1: Arkth gets lucky
Arkth goes into an attack frenzy and has such good rolls (14, 12, 15 and 18) that they don't grant Druken an opportunity to counter attack. Druken takes two wounds in the end that kill him. (Note: Druken should be entitled to a counter attack due to shield defense. This was omitted for simplicity as Arkth now has enough fatigue to attack and dodge all the way through the banzai surge).

Option 2: Arkth wears Druken out
Druken simply has bad luck getting back at Arkth. Arkth attacks and dodge and attack and dodges so much it wears Druken out. He reaches 100+ fatigue and begins to feel the toll. He either yields or suffers the ending attacks that wound him and possibly kill him.

Option 3: Arkth tries to wear Druken out but fails
Arkth isn't so lucky in this one. Druken parries well and returns well set blows befitting his training. Arkth tries to wear him out, to find a hole in the defenses, but fortune does not shine on him. Fatigued and on the verge of exhaustion Druken delivers some well placed swings that break through Arkth's leather armor and deliver killing wounds. Druken supports himself with one hand against the wall, recovering his breath as Arkth's life seeps out.